MST3K 103 - The Mad Monster
The movie Cody and Ted attempt to steal an atomic ray gun from the Moon Men. A disgraced scientist uses a wolf blood serum on his mentally-challenged gardener, turning him into a wolf man. The scientist then dispatches the wolf man to kill the men who denounced him as a charlatan. The episode Host segments Invention Exchange: Joel's "Hell in a Handbag" - a flame-throwing purse. Dr. F and Dr. E show off their thunder lizard. Segment Two: Tom flirts with Joel's blender. Segment Three: Joel answers the Bots' questions about the wolf man. Segment Four: Joel switches Crow's and Servo's heads to near-disastrous consequences. Ending Segment: Joel tries to offer RAM Chips to the Bots to say good things about the movie; when they don't, he threatens to give them to Gypsy, claiming that she was created as a peripheral character so that they would have someone else outside of the movies. As the discussion devolves into existentialism, the Mads are angry at their ignorance that a mad scientist died at the end of the movie. Obscure references *"I got it from Dennis Hopper I think" Refers to a scene in the movie Blue Velvet where Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper) gets high off of a small gas tank. In the movie it's officially amyl nitrate, not nitrous oxide. *"Buddy breathing." Buddy breathing is a technique where two divers can use one scuba tank, usually in an emergency. *"Snack Canyon." Snack Canyon was a theater ad about concession stand food from the 1970's. *"I want you to meet my brother, Fred Gwynne." Fred Gwynne was a tall actor famous for playing Herman on the sitcom The Munsters. *''"Did I just see a chuck-wagon roll through there?"'' Purina Chuck Wagon was a popular brand of dog food. It had commercials featuring dogs chasing a tiny covered wagon through a suburban home or kitchen. Behind the scenes MST3K cast Regular cast *Joel Hodgson - Joel Robinson *Trace Beaulieu - Crow T. Robot / Dr. Clayton Forrester *J. Elvis Weinstein - Tom Servo / Dr. Laurence Erhardt *Jim Mallon - Gypsy MST3K crew Full crew Production *Host Segment Two is the source of a notorious outtake in which Tom flubs a line and then announces that he is "gonna go f*ck myself..." It is notable since Josh Weinstein continues to operate Tom's mouth as if still in character even after the take has been blown. *The first episode to use the, "Move his spine around a lot," riff employed in scenes where an injured character is moved in an improper fashion. *Both inventions were previously shown on KTMA ("Hell in Handbag" was used in K16 - City on Fire). *Joel and the Bots actually leave before the movie ends and we get about 20 seconds of empty theater. *Servo flirting with a blender is a remake of a sketch from Humanoid Woman. Goofs Movie Edits As with most of the riffed movies, Mad Monster was edited to fit the TV format and scenes were trimmed to reduce the overall length in order to fit in the desired time-slot. Footage cut includes: * A scene in which Lenora gives Petro a letter to deliver to her boyfriend in the city. * A scene in which a group of hunters looking for the monster question Dr. Cameron, Lenora and Petro about whether they know anything. * The scene when Tom first arrives at Dr. Cameron's house, which includes Petro's first spontaneous transformation. This includes Tom explaining that the note on Dr. Blaine's desk had the address to the house written on it, which is how he knew to find it. ** Dr. Cameron later apologizes for his rudeness to Tom during the removed scene. Video releases * Commercially released on DVD by Shout! Factory in February 2009 as part of Volume XIV, a 4-disc set along with Manhunt in Space, Soultaker, and Final Justice. This set has been out of print since 2016. **The episode was subsequently reissued in September 2018 as part of Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Lost and Found Collection. **The DVD includes the original theatrical trailer for the movie as a special feature. *Digitally available through Shoutfactorytv.com, Youtube, Rifftrax, and Vudu. *Available for rent or purchase on Amazon's streaming service. Gallery References Mad Monster Mad Monster Mad Monster Category:Episodes directed by Jim Mallon